On Saturday night, “Girls Only” opened in Des Moines, Iowa, making it the Denver Center’s first home-grown cabaret production to expand into a second market.

The sketch comedy, self-described as “a unique examination of all things girly,” is based on the diaries of Denver co-stars Barbara Gehring and Linda Klein. Launched at the Avenue Theater in 2008, it moved to the Denver Center’s Galleria Theatre on Sept. 19, where it has since played to nearly 33,000 women (and a few men). That’s more than 90 percent of capacity, without benefit of being included in a subscription package.

The writers, and the Denver Center, are only starting to discover the national potential of “Girls Only,” but Klein believes the show might be up and running in as many as 10 cities by the end of 2010. The Canadian-born Gehring’s dream is for the show to go international.

Denver Center president Randy Weeks already has fielded inquiries from Toronto and Australia.

“When we saw how Denver audiences reacted to this, we knew it could be a franchise that would work in any market,” Gehring said.

At last week’s first Iowa preview performance, “the women went wild,” said Weeks. “The show ran 10 minutes longer than usual just to hold for all the applause.”

The plan is for Gehring and Klein to continue performing in the flagship Denver production, while training new actors here to perform in subsequent productions in other cities. Klein said it is important that each city get its own women whom audiences “can fall in love with for the duration,” especially because the show draws significant repeat business.

Weeks said if “Girls Only” can continue to draw at least 75 percent of capacity (210) here in Denver, it will have the same positive financial impact on the Denver Center as three national touring productions.

Simply said, creating a new revenue stream at this uncertain economic time not only helps to stabilize things, it saves jobs.

“It removes some of the uncertainty from the future,” Weeks said.

But it’s not ticket sales that are creating crises theaters all over the country are battling. It’s dwindling foundation support. Denver Center season sponsor Lehman Brothers, for example, is gone. The Bonfils Foundation, which exists to support the Denver Center, “took the same hit everybody else did,” Weeks said.

“Theoretically, if this ‘Girls Only’ model works, it means the Denver Center will be able to weather the storm as these corporations and foundations are trying to bounce back.”

Gehring said it’s vital the “Girls Only” expansion not happen too quickly. “This is our baby, and from here on, we will be able to choose who we would like to take care of our baby.”

But “we do a lot of daydreaming,” Klein said. And the sky’s the limit.

“We are only limited to where there are women,” she said.

Trinidad to the rescue.

The Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre’s 2009 season has been saved. The company recently faced an $80,000 shortfall from major donors beaten down by the recession. That’s 56 percent of the $142,000 total budget.

The board took the problem straight to the people of Trinidad, population 10,000 in the southern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. In just 21 days, more than $88,000 was pledged.

Kelley gets Frank

Ovation Award- winning Denver actor Elgin Kelley is touring the one-woman play “Through the Eyes of a Friend,” by Rachel S. Atkins. It’s the story of Anne Frank‘s life.

The tour, which began last week in Virginia before moving to Wisconsin, is sponsored by Living Voices, an educational theater organization that brings history to students through theater and other media. Many performances are scheduled for Denver middle schools throughout April and May.

Kelley said the post-show talkbacks have been even tougher than performing the play itself. “Many tears have been shed,” said Kelley, who has fielded questions like, “Why were the Jewish people so hated?”

Briefly . . .

The New Denver Civic’s next main stage show will be the multimedia Beatles tribute “When We Were FaB,” which spans the band’s arrival in America through the turbulent 1960s. It runs from April 30 to May 24 (303-309-3773). . . .

And finally: A scheduling coup for Theatre Aspen: The first homegrown Colorado staging of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” will open June 25 (970-925-9313). Boulder’s Dinner Theatre gets to mount the first metro production, opening Sept. 11 (303-449-6000).

Most recent theater openings

“Lend Me a Tenor”Ken Ludwig’s popular farce about the biggest night in Cleveland Grand Opera history. World-renowned tenor Tito Morelli has been invited to perform Otello, his greatest role, but the star is accidentally incapacitated, setting in motion a series of zany situations. Through April 5. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 30 W. Dale St., Colorado Springs, 719-634-5583 or csfineartscenter.org

“The Odd Couple”Neil Simon’s classic comedy about two divorced men who could not be any more different sharing an apartment. Through April 25. California Actors Theatre, Twin Peaks Mall, Longmont, 303-774-1842 or californiaactorstheatre.com

“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”Enduring musical set in the 1850s Oregon wilderness, where the young bride of a rugged country man endeavors to civilize her six rowdy brothers-in-law. Through May 30. Carousel Dinner Theatre,3509 S. Mason St., Fort Collins, 970-225-2555 or adinnertheatre.com

And introducing … The Running Lines blog

You can now find John Moore’s roundup of daily theater news and dialogue, including this week’s tale of running into a rather unsavory theater patron, at blogs.denverpost.com/runninglines

Re-cap: This week’s theater coverage in The Denver Post

Israel Hicks: He’s become become the first director in the world to have helmed August Wilson’s entire 10-play, 20th-century cycle for the same theater company, the Denver Center Theatre Company. click here

An ‘August’ Century’: A look at the entire Wilson Cycle, as performed by the Denver Center Theatre Company. click here

"Hadestown," singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell's Broadway debut, earned a leading 14 Tony Award nominations Tuesday, followed by the jukebox musical "Ain't Too Proud," built around songs by the Temptations, which received a dozen nominations.